By A Correspondent

Partho Dasgupta

Republic Media Network Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami may be in the comfortable climes of Noida or wherever he is currently, but his colleagues and friends are facing the heat. Collateral damage is perhaps how it could be best described.

The TRP scam, as it’s called, surfaced in October 2020 when the Mumbai police commissioner virtually announced an attack on Goswami and pulled his channel’s name and reputation.

Since then 14 people have been arrested, and on Christmas Eve an arrest warrant was produced for former BARC India CEO and management consultant Partho Dasgupta. Dasgupta, who is said to have been in Goa on a holiday to celebrate the Christmas-New Year break, was reportedly held on the outskirts of Pune. Last week, former BARC COO Romil Ramgarhia was also arrested. Ramgarhia is said to have been released on Friday, but the development has not been confirmed.

Details of what were the reasons cited for the arrest are still awaited, but what we do know is that he will be produced before a Mumbai court on Friday (Dec 25).

Dasgupta, an MBA from IIM Calcutta and an engineer from Jadavpur University, has worked with several leading organisations including The Times of India group, Crisil, Future Group and BARC India where he was the measurement body’s first CEO. He spent six-and-a-half years at BARC India and exited BARC India in November 2019. He is currently President of the Advertising Club. Veteran mediaperson Sunil Lulla is currently at the helm at BARC India.